The invention relates to a method of assisting orientation in the vascular system of a body volume. The invention also relates to an X-ray apparatus for monitoring an invasive vascular operation.
DE 100 47 314 A1 discloses a method of assisting orientation during angioscopy; this method utilizes a three-dimensional model of the vascular tree of the blood vessels. Using an X-ray fluoroscope, the position of a catheter or a guide wire is tracked in a two-dimensional projection during the angioscopic intervention while the physician has the possibility of changing the projection direction at will. Each time the instantaneous projection direction is detected and the corresponding projection of the three-dimensional model of the vascular tree is calculated. The latter can then be superposed on the instantaneous X-ray fluoroscopic image, it notably being possible to highlight the course of the vessels in the region of the tip of the catheter, as determined from the model, in the fluoroscopic live image in a “virtual contrast medium injection”. This method has a drawback, however, in that there is often inadequate spatial correspondence between the X-ray fluoroscopic live image and the projection of the model, that is, in particular in the case of small vessels.